While he’s well known for his exploits inside the cage, former UFC champion Dan “The Beast” Severn has also done his fair share of MMA commentating.

Most recently, as part of the Global Proving Grounds initiative, Severn will be handling color commentary on Saturday as part of GPG’s portion of the Big Time Branson Rumble in Branson, Mo.

“This is a piece of cake to do this kind of stuff,” said Severn as opposed to fighting. “Being on the outside calling the action, you kind of know what’s going through the mindsets and the strategy (of the fight).

“What we’re doing is for the GPG, and there is another gentleman running an MMA event here in Branson, they brought their own entire staff and referees, and it’s benefitting both companies a great deal by helping with structure and bring the overall quality of the show up.”

For those unfamiliar, the GPG is a reality show-based competition that allows fans to choose fighters who will appear on their upcoming television series next year. As Severn points out, there’s nothing quite like it in combat sports.

“It’s like a couple different reality shows come together. Think ‘Survivor’ meets ‘Dancing with the Stars’ meets ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’” he said. “What’s happened is that fighters who have submitted their videos and these various casting calls, the public can vote in 20 fighters to be on the show; 16 primary and four alternates.

“I believe they’ll be taken over to one of the islands in Hawaii sometime near the end of February and will begin shooting the show. Ultimately it boils down to a competition, but it’s going to blend different elements that currently are not being utilized on any MMA program that I know of so far.”

Once the fighters get to the island, Severn will be one of the mentors involved in the competition. It’s something that he has wanted to get involved with for quite some time.

“At one time I offered my services to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ show and wanted to be one of their coaches, so I could teach different types of concepts that we use at our Michigan sports camps that are very unique and have helped some people become very successful in their careers,” said Severn.

Turning his attention towards his own fighting career, Severn told MMAWeekly.com that he’s sticking with the plan he’s had in place since last year to retire by 2013.

“The reality is, I had sent off a number of mass emails in December 2011 to promotions letting them know that if they were ever thinking of utilizing my services, it would have to happen sometime during the course of 2012 because I had planned on being retired as of Jan. 1, 2013,” said Severn.

“I will be retired after this year. Not necessarily because I have to, but because I have so many other interests. I think if I could dedicate more time and do it, I could still fare well in this reality as a 54-year-old man, but there comes a point and time that it’s a diminishing return.”

Severn concluded, “I’ve had a very charmed career and I just think it’s time to move on to other things.”